You can listen to the songs here. Complete musician credits at the end of the review.
Composer Leon James nails the inspirational song format in Unnai Maatrinaal, a song that is a smart mix of powerful and poignant elements (shades of desh raaga, I think). While the percussion-heavy arrangement features some nice naadaswaram bits from Balasubramaniam, the singing is handled by Harish Sivaramakrishnan with able support from the kids’ chorus of Sargam Choir. The finish is particularly rousing, the chorus chanting the lead refrain as Harish launches into a classical alaap. Kohila is a light, hummable tune that is immensely engaging with its breezy treatment, Bhavani Prasad’s veena adding a nice touch to an otherwise pop setting. Leon’s singing isn’t top drawer, but he makes it work here while the other end is held secure by Neeti Mohan.
Composer loads the lovely melody of Kannamma with a pacy techno-based arrangement, something that accentuates the haunting feel of the tune to brilliant effect. British-Sri Lankan singer Inno Genga and Chinmayi handle the vocals very well. The composer manages to create a tantamount effect with a far minimal setting in its Reprise version, even with Salim Merchant doing an Udit Narayan with the lyrics. Vishal Dadlani owns Vidaadha with the raw energy in his voice, even as Leon peppers the techno dance arrangement with folksy elements. The short KO-2 Theme starts off promisingly with Kishor’s sitar in the lead, but is too short to make much of an impact.
Ko-2. Leon James’ first full soundtrack as composer (he previously did two songs in Kanchana 2), and he delivers in style!
Music Aloud Rating: 8/10
Top Recos: Unnai Maatrinaal, Kannamma, Kohila
Musician/Technician Credits:
Sitar – Kishor
Veena – Bhavani Prasad
Israj – Arshad Khan
Flute – Vishnu Vijay
Nadhaswaram – Balasubramaniam
Percussions – Krishna Kishor
Bass guitar – Naveen Napier Kumar
Guitars – Keba Jeremiah
Strings recorded by Supreme Tracks
Pianos, Vocoders, Synthesizers & Drum Machines – Leon James
Additional Programming – David Joseph
Vocal Producer – Lijesh Kumar
Child Chorus – Sargam Choir
Female Chorus – Sharanya Srinivas, Sandhya Sundar
Male Chorus – Deepak, Santosh Hariharan, Anand Aravindakshan
Recording Engineers:
Chennai – Thiru Vengadam, K.S Mani Ratnam, Lijesh Kumar
Mumbai – Amir, Shakeel, Reena, Adi
New York – Jake Gakovik
Recording Studios:
Chennai – SoundTech Media, Voice & Vision Studio
Mumbai – EmSquare Studios, Modi Digital Studios, Ashok Honda Studios
New York – Supreme Tracks Studios
Music Supervisor – Krishna Kishor
Mixed by Leon James Unnai Maatrinaal
Mixed by Thiru Vengadam
Mixing Supervisor – Navneeth Balachanderan
Music Produced & Mixed at Shambala Studios
Mastered by Navneeth Balachanderan at the Red Pencil Company
Mastered for iTunes by S.Sivakumar at AM Studios
Music Co-Ordination – Roshan Doshi, Velavan
Special Thanks to AH Studios, Sivakumar, Faizuddin, Prithvi Chandrasekar, Aalaap Raju, Adithya Modi, Rahul Ramachandran, Nazeef Mohammad, Vivek Machetti, Manoj Kumar
Music Composed, Arranged & Produced by Leon James
